Reunion
by Pendragon2601
Summary: Killian Jones wakes up in the Underworld after the events of Swan Song and tries to come to terms with what has happened to him. However he won't have to do it alone, thanks to a little bit of familial help. Told in possibly three parts.
1. Reunion

_Hello_

 _I haven't written in a couple of years but I came across this TV show and I completely fell in love with it. It's not my best but I just had to write something after that last ending in Swan Song so yes this story **does contain spoilers,** because I needed to do something to assuage the grief of my favourite ship sinking (for now). This is a Captain Hook/Killian Jones story so please try not to hate. _

_This is set about a couple of hours after the result of Swan Song in the Underworld and what I imagined it would look like based off of the promo videos I've seen so far. I am from England and I use the British spellings so it becomes less confusing for me._

 _Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters (except maybe the nurse). All the rights belong to Adam and Eddy. But if I did own them, it's safe to say, Robin wouldn't need to be rescued all the time..._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Once Upon A Time**

 **Reunion**

"Oi Pirate, you gonna wake up anytime soon?"

Killian groggily opened his eyes and found himself lying in a hospital bed, bathed in red light coming from the window above his head. The side of his neck was throbbing and there was a deep hollow pain in his chest from where he was…wait, he was stabbed, wasn't he? Gingerly he touched his neck to find the skin split apart and oozing blood.

"Finally, I was beginning to think you were gonna snore for the rest of eternity." Killian winced and slowly turned towards the voice. A middle aged woman dressed in a tattered nurse uniform was scribbling on a clipboard at the side of his bed. Her lips were pursed in concentration as she glanced at him with shrewd eyes through her half moon glasses underneath a mop of greying hair.

"Where the bloody hell am I?" Killian groaned as he tried to sit up.

"I'll give you three guesses." The nurse replied dryly, putting her clipboard on a nearby bed. "Charon brought you in about two hours ago, with a laceration to the neck and a clean stab wound through your chest. Do you remember what happened? The details of your death are still being written up at the moment."

"I was…uh…" Killian frowned as the hazy memories slowly came back to him. "Swan…Emma stabbed me."

The nurse nodded understandingly. "Ah, did you cheat on her?"

"What? No! I love Emma." Killian bristled glaring at the nurse. His neck throbbed once more as he moved. "Ow!" The nurse pursed her lips in contempt and shuffled over to her desk on the opposite end of the ward. Two minutes later she came back with a small nondescript pot in her hand and she slapped some sour smelling gunk on Killian's neck. "Hey, what is that stuff?"

"It's just a salve that'll help heal you. It will start working in a couple of minutes. Right, open your shirt." The nurse replied.

"With pleasure, love." Killian joked half heartedly, as he popped open the buttons on his blood soaked shirt. The nurse gave him a look before she carried on with her job. Emma's mouth would have tried to stop a smile from appearing on her face if he had said that to her. "How long will it take before I can get out of here?"

"Depends. Are you going to try and get back to the land of the living?"

Killian's head shot up in surprise, different ideas flying through his head as fast as if he was sailing on the Jolly Roger. "Is there a way back?"

"Not for you. Well, not unless you want to damn somebody else down here instead." The nurse shrugged as she picked up her clipboard and clicked her pen. "Now, have you been to the Underworld before?"

"No…"

"Have you killed anyone in your life?"

Killian shifted in the bed. "I might have."

"Ok, we'll have to have a demon tail you for a while for your protection." She scribbled a note. "Right, basic rules of the Underworld. Don't eat anything, don't drink anything. Don't try to barter your way back to the world above, Charon will take it personally. No fighting. No pillaging. No piracy. Oh, sucks to be you Pirate." The nurse smirked at her own little joke. "And finally, all souls in the Underworld must attend the town meetings in the town hall when summoned. Any questions?"

Killian shook his head. The nurse nodded and slipped her pen into her pocket. "Oh, one more thing. If you come across Cerberus, try not to get eaten. Hades is sick of having to scrape body parts from between the hound's teeth. Have a nice afterlife."

Killian was left to his own devices as the nurse shuffled away.

* * *

"Same old Storybrooke. Some things never change it seems." Killian shook his head as he observed his surroundings and immediately spotted the clock tower in a heap in front of the library. He slotted his hook back into his arm brace, watching it glint in the red sunlight. The town was almost unrecognisable. Burning pyres littered the roads, old buildings had become ruins, and shop windows were smashed in, including Killian noticed with glee, Mr Gold's shop.

He began to explore Storybrooke, slowly making his way down towards the harbour. He hadn't come across anyone yet but he was sure that would change soon. He felt very unsettled and decided he needed to see the horizon to help calm him. He tried to come to grips with what happened to him. He was in the bloody Underworld. He was _dead_. And yet, the worst part was never seeing his Swan, his beautiful Emma, ever again. Whenever he saw her face in his mind, her tears as she thrust Excalibur into his chest, it brought up all of the pain he had experienced in his life. It wasn't just Emma he missed though. He had always coped with being on his own, but since he had arrived in Storybrooke hell bent on his revenge against the Crocodile, he had acquired friends. Close friends who had somehow become a family to him. He missed everybody he had left behind. Henry, Emma, Robin, David, Mary Margaret, Belle. Even Regina. He still hated Gold but that will never change.

Killian turned a corner just past the dry cleaners and stopped in his tracks. Parked up ahead on a set of bricks, was Emma's bug, its yellow paint blackened with soot and the windows smashed in. A lump tried to push its way up his throat but he swallowed and looked away, pushing forward on his path until her car was out of sight.

Eventually he arrived at the docks and sat on the familiar bench by the water. Thankfully, the bench was the same as it has always been. He stared out at the sea waiting for a wash of calm to fill his soul but nothing came. He sighed in frustration, feeling agitated that he couldn't even take solace in the sea. What he would give to have a sip of rum right now.

He sat there for what felt like hours, but he couldn't tell. The red sun above never moved from its perch in the middle of the sky, an uncomfortable heat beating down on his skin with no wind to take the edge off. There were very few boats in the harbour and they looked like they had never been used anyway. It was incredibly bad form to leave a ship tied up and never to let her sail on the open seas, to never let her have her maiden voyage. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Killian, is that you?"

Killian jumped up at the voice, his heart pounding in his chest as he recognised it. Standing a few feet away was a man he had never thought he would see again. Killian felt his eyes well up with unshed tears as he saw his brother staring at him with grief. "Liam," Killian breathed as he ran and embraced his brother in a tight hug. "Oh brother, I've missed you so much."

"And I you, Killian," his brother returned, his voice muffled by his shoulder as he hugged back. "But so sad that you're here."

"Aye," Killian pulled back reluctantly to look at his brother. Liam had not changed since the day he died. He was still wearing his Captain's uniform, which brought back memories from when he lost him. "I'm so sorry that you died. If there was any way I could go back and change things, we would never have set foot in Neverland."

Liam shook his head. "What's done is done. There's no use raking up the past, we've got enough of that here as it is. Besides what have you got to be sorry for? I am the only one at fault for what happened."

"I know but -"

"Enough." Liam stepped back and took in Killian's appearance. "Despite the circumstances, it's good to see you. But, what on earth are you wearing? And what's that stuff around your eyes?"

Killian looked away quickly brushing his eyes with his good hand, feeling his cheeks warm under his brother's curious stare. "Nothing. A lot has changed since we last saw each other."

"I guess, but you look like you've been in a fight and you know my views on that brother." Liam said sternly. The two brothers made their way back towards the bench and sat down.

Killian smiled at him with his eyebrow raised. "I've discovered that women find it quite attractive for some reason. And you can't exactly engage in piracy without throwing a few punches at some quivering cowards."

A look of shock appeared on Liam's face. "Killian, tell me you didn't become a _pirate_. That is extremely bad form brother."

"I couldn't help it, Liam. I couldn't carry on working under that wretched King's service after you died." Killian sighed with grief. "So I took the Jewel for myself, renamed it the Jolly Roger and then took my revenge on every ship in the King's navy."

"Oh Killian…" Liam shook his head in despair. The brothers continued to talk about Killian's life after Liam died. Killian told him about all of the adventures he had, his encounter with the Crocodile, his torment in Neverland and when he discovered their father was still alive and murdered him. He even told him about what happened to him in Storybrooke, from battling the Lost Boys to releasing the Dark Ones on his loved ones. It felt good to talk to his brother after all of these years spent apart. It felt like old times when he could tell his brother anything.

They fell silent and stared out at the horizon. Liam wrapped his arm around Killian's shoulders and pulled his brother into a one-armed hug. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you. That was not the life I wished for you when I brought you with me all those years ago. Your heart must be such a burden."

"Aye, but it wasn't all bad. I fell in love with Milah," Killian said lifting his right sleeve to show the tattoo on his arm. "And then I met the love of my life."

A smile crept up on Liam's mouth. "This "Swan" you were telling me about. She sounds like quite a woman."

"She is. We didn't start off great but she eventually warmed up to me. She and her son Henry helped heal the hole that appeared after you passed on." Killian nodded, feeling the lump grow in his throat again. "I love them so much Liam."

Liam nodded and squeezed his shoulder consolingly. "The Underworld was designed to be hard, but being away from loved ones is even harder. You won't believe the amount of times I wished I could break out of here and find you. But we're together now. We can help each other through this."

"Aye, we can."

A loud siren echoed across Storybrooke, making Liam jump. He sighed and stood up, smoothing out his uniform as he went. "That's the town hall. There must be a meeting. Come on, brother, let's go. We mustn't be late."

"Why does this place look like Storybrooke anyway? It keeps reminding me of Emma." Killian grumbled as he joined his brother.

"So that's what this place is. I guess the Underworld appears as everyone's own personal purgatory. We all have unfinished business here and until we complete that, we can't move on."

"Granny's must be packed then." Killian sighed. "Where are you staying at the moment?"

"There's a loft a few streets away from here that I stay in. It's not much but it's the best there is in a place like this. Anything to keep you sheltered from the furies is good in my book." Killian caught a look in Liam's eyes that sent shivers down his spine. "You can stay with me. It'll be like old times. We can take it in turns protecting each other from the other residents. This town is filled with the most despicable people you could ever come across. The Blind Witch owns the café down the road, I wouldn't try her pies if I were you by the way Killian. They are most definitely _not_ steak and kidney. Not that you should eat anything here anyway. There's this completely psychotic woman tearing around town in this ridiculous vehicle and the worst of them all is that young boy named Pan."

Killian stopped in his tracks. "No, that demon cannot be here."

"Don't worry Killian, he usually keeps to himself. We all have to behave here or else Hades will know and send Cerberus to hunt us down." Liam said. Killian reluctantly continued on. "The Underworld is not the same place you have heard from stories. It's a lot worse." Killian swallowed and followed his brother closely. Hopefully, things wouldn't get any worse than it already is.


	2. Unfinished Business

_Hello again,  
_

 _First I would like to say thank you for all of the reviews I have recieved so far. It cheers me up so much knowing that you all like this story. I did originally plan to just do one chapter and that would be it but I realise now that there is so much more I could do with this story. So instead of writing just one chapter I have decided to extend it to possibly three chapters, if I can get a good idea for the third part._

 _This chapter is basically a continuation of the first but I have used a bit of creative license as to what happened to Killian and a possible theory as to where he could be seeing as he is misisng from the promo video. Also I added some character development to Liam because to be honest we barely know much about him. I also added an almost different take on Captain Hook's story from the original Peter Pan story (love that story). Let me know if you spot it. :)_

 _Disclaimer: Same as before. Same wishes as before but to be honest I could do so much with that series and this chapter is only a smidgeon of what I could write. (wink wink Adam and Eddy)_

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Unfinished Business**

The longer that Killian spent in the Underworld, the more he felt that the shadows were watching him. At first he thought it was just the demon tailing him everywhere he went but that one followed him like a shadow. It was disconcerting but at least he knew the demon was there for his protection (not that he felt he needed protecting. He was a damn pirate for goodness sake; he could hold his own in any skirmish). These shadows though…they were everywhere. Even in broad daylight Killian would often glimpse a dark corner that shouldn't even be dark.

He tried to talk to Liam about them but whenever he brought up the subject his brother would look warily around them and then place three fingers over his heart. Killian would ask what that meant but then Liam would shush him. He had also noticed that the clock face on the broken tower was stuck at 8.15. He wasn't sure whether it was AM or PM but he supposed it didn't matter either way seeing as the sun still hadn't moved from its spot in the middle of the sky. He wasn't even sure why the hands were stuck at 8.15 either. It reminded him of an old story he was told as a boy about a man who feared growing old so much he smashed every clock face and sundial he could find. He couldn't remember the ending (something about a fountain or a lake?) but he knew it didn't end well.

"Killian?"

Killian looked up from his hook and glanced at his brother. "What is it Liam? Intruders?" Liam shook his head from his spot at the window. It was Liam's turn at guard duty and so he was sat causally at the window sill with a loaded pistol just in case. Killian was currently lounging on a worn out sofa in the middle of the room, sharpening his hook with a filing block he had found downstairs. In the real Storybrooke, this had been Marco's shop. Killian hadn't personally met the carpenter but he had heard lots of stories about him from Emma. And about August, who was his son. He tried not to get jealous about it but jealousy came a very close second when it came to the list of things-that-make-Killian-go-dark. His revenge on the Crocodile being right at the top.

Liam finally turned away from the window with a frown on his face. "Do you remember when you told me about our father?"

Killian clenched his jaw. "Yes. What about him?"

"Did you have to kill him?" Liam looked at him concernedly. Killian sat up and gave his brother a dark look.

"He didn't care about us. He replaced you with that new boy of his and didn't even regret it. The bastard deserved what he got."

"I'm not saying what he did wasn't wrong. But what if he had changed -"

"He didn't."

"But what if he did? What if he really wasn't going to leave him this time? I just can't help thinking about that poor boy." Liam looked solemnly at his pistol.

Killian sighed. "If it's any consolation, I wanted to believe he had changed. I truly did. But as soon as he said those words, the exact same words he told me, I couldn't take it. My anger blinded me."

"And now he really has abandoned Liam." His brother shook his head. "Killian, we may not share the same mother but he is still our brother. He's still a Jones."

"Fat lot of good we'll do for him now. We're both dead." Killian scoffed.

"Yes, but there is still a chance for you to make amends." Liam stared at him seriously. Killian rolled his eyes.

"How? There's no way out of here without damning another person's soul."

"There is a way."

Killian looked up in surprise. "How can that be possible? If there was truly a way to get back, why didn't you try to get back to me?"

"Because you have to go through Hades' test." Killian stared at his brother as he repeated his weird gesture. Three fingers over his heart. Liam let out an exhausted breath. "Hades has a test; an impossible test for souls to go through for a chance at another life. If you succeed you get a new body but your memories are wiped and you become a new version of yourself. If you can go through that life without going dark three times, you're granted Elysium, the hero's afterlife. But if you fail the test, you spend eternity in the Fields of Asphodel."

"The what?"

"The Fields of Asphodel. Also known as the Fields of Punishment." Liam shuddered. "It is not a place you want to go."

"Clearly. Sounds like bundles of fun." Killian said dryly. He received a glare from his brother and suddenly he felt like a boy again after they had a fight.

"This is no laughing matter Killian. There's a reason why mortals mix up the Underworld with Hell, and the Fields are because of that." The brothers fell silent. Moments passed before Liam spoke up again. "If I were the same man I was before I died, I might have taken the test but now I'm not so sure."

Killian stood up from his spot on the sofa and strode over to his brother, placing his hook on Liam's back in a vain attempt of comfort. Killian decided to drop the subject and maybe ask more questions later. He knew that if he was ever going to get back to Emma and Henry then he would at least have to try. But if he failed…

Killian suddenly spotted a shadow moving in the street below. "Liam, someone's coming."

The brothers crouched low by the window and peered out onto the street. There was a woman in a long red chemise walking along the centre of the road. She had hair the colour of wheat fields and tanned skin as if she had spent many long summers by the seaside. She didn't look up but Killian sensed that there was something sad about her. "Liam, who is she? What is she d-? Liam?"

Killian glanced at his brother but Liam took no notice. Liam watched the woman as if he was transfixed. Killian tried to get Liam's attention but he barely got a reaction out of him as he continued to stare at the woman. Killian put two and two together and the penny dropped. "You like her don't you?" Killian guessed. Liam blinked and rigorously shook his head.

"What? Don't be absurd." Liam shifted until his back was leaning against the window sill. Killian grinned.

"Oh come on, I know that look. I've seen that look many times in my three hundred years of life. Heck, even _I've_ used that look once." Killian joined his brother and bumped his shoulder against him. "You fancy her."

"I don't." Liam grumbled. Killian gave him a look. "Well, at least I can't anyway."

Killian frowned. "Why not? Is she off limits or something?"

"Yes she is." Liam sighed. "That woman is Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. Hades' wife." He added when Killian stared at him blankly.

"So what?" Killian shrugged.

Liam gaped at him incredulously. "So if Hades found out I was anywhere near her, the Fields of Asphodel would be the very least of my problems. I'd probably be dog food for Cerberus. And let me remind you that hound has three heads!"

"All the more reason not to get caught."

Liam shook his head defiantly. "No. The fact that she's a married woman might not bother you, but to me it's bad form. I'm nobody if I don't have my honour."

Killian sighed in thought. "But what if she is your unfinished business?" Liam paused and then turned to Killian curiously.

"What are you saying brother?"

"Well, you didn't exactly fall in love with anyone when you were alive. Maybe it's been eating away at your subconscious and is now the reason you're stuck here."

"No it can't be. It's never bothered me before, why would it now? I'm a sailor. My first and only love is the sea."

"And look where that got you." Killian replied giving Liam a knowing look. "Liam, there's more to life than honour and duty. Haven't you ever been curious? Even once?"

Liam gave no reply but Killian got his answer. "Take it from a man who waited far too long to realise he could love again. If there is a chance that she could be your unfinished business, then take it. It's got to be better than being stuck here forever."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me brother." Killian said. "I know my happy ending. What's yours going to be?"

Liam turned to look out of the window again, but Persephone was gone. Liam let out a slow breath and placed three fingers over his heart. "We should try to get some sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow."

With the subject dropped, Killian returned to his spot on the sofa and lay down. Killian knew he was right. If Liam could get his happy ending through Persephone, then that would be one less thing to worry about when he enacted his own plans. And he sure as hell knew that if there was a way back to Emma he was going to take it.

Consequences be damned. He was going to take Hades' test, he was going to find Emma and nothing was going to stop him.


End file.
